Chapter 222

The plan I had thought of did not give much consideration towards morals or whether it was humane.

We would cause a stir by having the blood apes clash with the bandits. The wind dragon would be offered bait, and that’s how we would drag it down.

Maybe I was going mad. But I didn’t think there was any other way. I had checked with Eye of the God Wolf, and there were enough of them for this to work.

The wind dragon would likely forget about us when it saw so much food in front of it. Then we would cut off its wings. Then its limbs and head. Then it would be over. We would just have to deal with the remaining blood apes and bandits after that and then return to the city. It was honestly a smart idea.

After all, it allowed us to get rid of the blood apes and the bandits.

Now, in spite of my sincere wishes, the bandits were running away. This was no good. If they scattered like that, then there wouldn’t be anyone around when the blood apes arrived.

“Frostheim.”

The boost to ice magic was magnificent. It wasn’t just a boost in power, but amount as well. In other words, the magic in my body moved faster and there was more of it. All of these factored into the boost in damage.

And so I was able to send magic into the ground and activate it immediately. It was easy enough to freeze them. Well, there was a need to send magic into the armor in advance, in order to activate the enchantment.

“I told you to be still.”

“Damn it…Agghhhh!…”

“I can’t move…!”

“Bastard. I’ll kill you!!”

Frostheim was a magic that sent ice-type energy into the ground and froze anyone who was touching it. As most of them were running, they ended up being frozen in awkward positions. It was like modern art. Though, I didn’t know if it would be classified as good or bad.

I could sense the large group of monsters and the single large monster coming towards us through Presence Detection. Obviously, the large group was the blood apes. And the big one was our wind dragon.

The wind dragon had followed us to the forest and had been searching the southeast area.

However, it had sensed the large amounts of magic I was using. And now it was coming towards us. Its speed… Yes, they would all arrive at about the same time.

Still, the fact that it had been searching for us in the forest showed me just how effective Presence Block had been. This skill really did affect anyone within range. Or it would have sensed Daniela. Even now, it was coming towards us because of the magic used.

“Pretty useful skill…”

I muttered as I tapped my sword on my shoulder. This was the kind of skill you wanted to use all the time in town in order to raise the level.

Speaking of skills that I wanted to level up, it was quite sad that I hadn’t able to do it with the spear, as there weren’t many places for me to use it. As I wasn’t confident with it, I always resorted to using a sword when it came to a fight. But it was those times I probably should be using it…except the enemy was usually the problem. It was really bad luck. Well, I could always try tomorrow.

“…And here they are.”

I saw Daniela on her ‘Blast Board’(I named it for her. I think she was happy?) and the hoard of monsters behind her. And then in a different direction. The wind dragon was coming down from the sky in the east. It had flown here from the forest. Thankfully, it had detected me before noticing Daniela.

I looked at my surroundings again. The villainous bandits were all glued to the ground. They would have been killed by the military soon or later. And so they may as well die here in a useful manner. I knew that I was slowly being poisoned by the standards of this world, but I also understood that this was just how we had to work in order to survive.

I was always in my head. Thinking too much. I never found any answers, but I had to move forward.

“It’s hard when you can’t stop thinking.”

For the sake of the part of me that was dying, I said a silent prayer before beginning this inhumane plan.

I activated Presence Block just as Daniela arrived. Now that we were together, we were both invisible. The wind dragon and blood apes would lose their target.

However, they would find something else. Bandits all over the ground.

The blood apes were the first to fall on the feast before them.

However, the wind dragon continued to search for us. But it wasn’t easy. After all, there were too many people in the area.

Eventually, even the wind dragon changed its focus on the flesh below it. The bandits and the blood apes. They may not contain as much magic energy, but at least there were a lot of them.

And like that, my plan seemed to succeed.

“Ahhh! Don’t eat me!!”

“Giii! Giii!”

“Help me…Ughaaaaa…!!”

“Gg-ggeh…gahh…”

“GIIIIII!!”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH…”

What I had wanted turned out to be hell. ‘I hadn’t imagined this…’ That was not something I could claim. It was the result of what I wanted. But there was that dying part of me that now frowned and said that this was too horrible.

“Asagi.”

“Yeah…”

I heard Daniela’s voice and looked up. The wind dragon’s wings were open wide as it descended. It was within range of my magic, but I stayed still. I would wait until it had landed. Then I would cut off one of its wings. It was too big for me to cut off both with just a one-handed sword.

Maybe if I had Schwarz Tempest, but it wouldn’t be much of an ambush if it sensed its magic. And at this range, it wouldn’t take much to be detected.

“Is this real!! It’s a dragon!!”

“Giii! Gii!”

One of the bandits felt the burst of wind from the dragon and started to scream. The others looked up and saw it. Then they stopped resisting. That’s when the blood apes tore into them. The blood apes were not intelligent enough to care about anything other than their meal.

And it was amidst this banquet of flesh and blood that the wind dragon landed.

The jade beast took in its surroundings. Now that I could see it closely, I was sure that it was larger than the one I fought in Nicora. Perhaps Eve could only tame small dragons. Still, it was bigger than any wyvern.

“GRRRRRRRRAAAAAA!!!”

It roared as if to warn any who might touch its food. We had moved close enough to launch a surprise attack, and I had to fight the urge to cover my ears.

Even the blood apes paused at the sheer volume of the roar. They froze and looked up at the wind dragon.

I knew it was bad.

Now they would surely run away. And I had brought them all the way here to be food.

Just as I prepared to send magic into the ground again, something very unexpected happened.

“GGGAAA!!”

“GII!! GIII!!”

“GGGAAAAHHH!!”

The blood apes roared back. And then they charged towards the wind dragon with their fangs and claws bared.

Was this really happening? Apes against a dragon?

“So, these guys are really dumb, huh?”

“Blood lust, perhaps? Nothing enrages them like someone trying to take their food.”

“Still…that’s a dragon…”

“A monster. That is all it is.”

I guess that was the extent of their intelligence. This was a little annoying in itself, but perhaps it was a good thing.

“We move as planned.”

“Of course.”

I used Legs of the God Wolf, which didn’t use magical energy and rose up into the air. Then I unsheathed my sword and prepared to attack. That’s when Daniela moved away and fell. This was in order to activate the Blast Board. While she was doing that, I shot towards the dragon at a speed that the eye could not follow.

Just as Daniela activated her magic, the wind dragon, who had a blood ape in its mouth, turned its head to look up. It had noticed Daniela’s magic, and it spread out its wings in order to take flight. However, My sword had already begun to fall.